Summary
- Google continues to make small yet significant improvements to Wear OS, like showing app installation progress in the app drawer.
- These usability enhancements, along with others like the new Watch Face Format, aim to make Wear OS a stronger competitor in the Android ecosystem.
- While currently limited to Pixel Watch and Watch 2 owners, it remains unclear if the app installation progress in the app drawer will roll out to other Wear OS watches in the future.
Since the debut of Wear OS 3 in 2021, Google has been making steady improvements to the platform. The company’s efforts have helped revive Wear OS and made it a viable alternative to the Apple Watch in the Android ecosystem. In recent months, we have seen Google make several small but important usability improvements to its wearable platform, like pushing developers to use the new Watch Face Format and the debut of a hybrid interface for longer battery life. Google has now been spotted testing another small usability improvement in Wear OS, displaying an app’s installation progress in the app drawer.
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As tipped to Mishaal Rahman, some Pixel Watch and Watch 2 owners are seeing an app’s install progress on their watch’s app drawer. This basic functionality has been present on Android phones for years but is inexplicably missing from Wear OS. The feature is already live on my Pixel Watch 2, with the app drawer showing the installation or update progress in percentage. While a minor tweak, it ensures you know which Wear OS apps are being updated in the background without opening the Play Store.
It’s unclear if this change is linked to the recently rolled-out March 2024 Pixel Feature Drop. That update primarily brought many Pixel Watch 2 features to the original Pixel Watch and little else. Google could eventually roll out this change as a server-side push or with the next monthly patch for the Pixel Watch.
Since non-Pixel watches use a different launcher, it’s difficult to say if this change will make its way to other Wear OS watches.
Google is working on several Wear OS improvements behind the scenes. A report from earlier this year indicated the company is working on Android 14-based Wear OS 5, which will supposedly be released alongside the Galaxy Watch 7 series later this year.
The company was also spotted testing a new grid-view app drawer for the Pixel Watch in early February 2024. It was presumed to roll out with the March 2024 Feature Drop, but that did not happen. These Wear OS launcher improvements could roll out with the next monthly security patch for the OS, or we might have to wait until Wear OS 5’s release later this year.
